The latest Neptune Indicator research shows that the number of seafarers onboard vessels beyond the expiry of their contract has decreased slightly to 4.2% from 4.3% in the last month, while the number of seafarers onboard vessels for over 11 months has remained stable at 0.3%.
For the eighth consecutive month, Global Maritime Forum observe little change in the numbers reported, as it confirm the entry into a ‘new normal’. The Neptune Indicator also reports a 2.8 percentage point increase in seafarer vaccines, from 86.2% in June to 89.3% in July.
Increased seafarer vaccines
Ship managers reported few new developments or difficulties in carrying out crew changes. While restrictions in some countries persist, quarantine requirements have loosened in China and overall COVID-related crew change restrictions have eased.
Seafarer vaccines have reached high numbers and ship managers continue to actively provide vaccinations to their crew, whether onshore in ports or their home countries. There do remain some insecurities around vaccines and ship managers report a global shortage of Ukrainian and Russian crew due to the ongoing conflict.
Data indicator moving forward
The group confirmed the value of having an Indicator providing up-to-date information
A year after the first report was published, the ship managers providing data to the Indicator convened in early June 2022 to take stock of the past year and to discuss the need for the Indicator moving forward.
The group confirmed the value of having an Indicator providing up-to-date information on the crew change situation.
Frequency of COVID-19
In light of the easing of the COVID-related crew change crisis, it was agreed to move from monthly to quarterly reporting with the possibility of increasing the frequency if new variants of COVID-19 and/or other crises start negatively impacting the possibility of carrying out crew changes.
The group also expressed a willingness to explore how the Indicator could be developed to cover other areas of importance to seafarer wellbeing such as access to shore leave.
Supporting seafarer wellbeing
“I am encouraged by the willingness and desire of ship managers to collaborate and share data that can be used to monitor and push for access to crew change," says Kasper Søgaard, Managing Director, Head of Institutional Strategy and Development, at Global Maritime Forum.
Kasper Søgaard adds, "We look forward to continuing the work on the Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator and developing the initiative so it continues to support seafarer well-being."
Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator
Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator builds on aggregated data provided by the ship managers
The Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator builds on aggregated data from ten leading ship managers: Anglo-Eastern, Bernhard Schulte, Columbia Shipmanagement, Fleet Management (FLEET), OSM, Synergy Marine, Thome, V.Group, Wallem Ship Management, and Wilhelmsen Ship Management which collectively have about 100,000 seafarers currently onboard.
The Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator builds on aggregated data provided by the ship managers to the Global Maritime Forum.
The proportion of vaccinated seafarers
The data is used to calculate a weighted average of the percentage of seafarers who have been onboard vessels beyond the expiry of their contract of employment, a weighted average of the percentage of seafarers who have been onboard vessels for over 11 months, and a weighted average of the percentage of seafarers who have been vaccinated.
As top ship managers are making significant efforts and are often better placed in facilitating crew changes, the Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator cannot be used directly to calculate the full number of seafarers impacted by the crew change crisis. Likewise, the calculated percentage of seafarers who have been vaccinated is likely to overestimate the actual proportion of vaccinated seafarers.